Artist Derec Donovan has drawn Ame-Comi Girls and Batman '66 for DC Comics. And now he's drawn Booster Gold, too.

Donovan posted this recent commission on Twitter as @DerecDonovan74. If you like what you see, you might want to know that he's still taking orders for Christmas commissions through December 15.

Good work, Derec.

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When Booster booster CDN wrote to suggest more general-interest articles here on the Boosterrific Blog, he had one specific suggestion in mind:

Booster doesn't have the most well defined Rogues Gallery out there. Sure there's Black Beetle, Jonar and Max, but it's not really fleshed out. Maybe given your expertise on our Golden Boy, if you're hurting for Booster news, you could give us your 'Fantasy Booking' for a Booster Gold Rogues Gallery. Poaching villains and anti-heroes from other heroes and books, building a roster that you could see playing off Michael well, like the Flash's gallery or the Bat-Gallery. I've always personally thought Booster should have Punch and Jewelee to contend with, and even Lime and Light. But 2 (4?) people don't really make a Gallery.

What do you think? If you could build a Gallery for Michael, who'd you pick and why?

It is true that heroes are best defined by their villains. (What is good if it's not defined against an evil?) It's no accident that Batman is among the most popular of all comic book super heroes, with his colorful and astonishingly well-defined gang of ne'er-do-wells providing sharp contrast for his every sterling attribute. Booster might not look such a fool to the general public if he had his own Penguin to foil on a regular basis. (Then again, maybe Booster is just plain better at keeping his enemies behind bars than old pointy-ears.)

On a practical level, Booster's lackluster list of antagonists is mostly a side-effect of his having so few solo adventures in which to gather enemies. He's had only 74 issues over 2 volumes, averaging 1 story told per every 2 books. That's only 37 chances to develop recurring foes (not counting the occasional solo story in his various team books over the years). Booster has had some great writers over that time, but there's only so much even a Dan Jurgens, Geoff Johns, or Keith Giffen can do in such a limited span. (So much easier for Batman to develop foes when he's in at least one book a week, sometimes more.)

Further complicating Booster's limited opportunities is the very nature of Booster's self-appointed role as Time Master. Since many of his stories are largely constrained to correcting mistakes in history, unless a villain is temporal in nature, there's not much chance Booster is going to be fighting them twice. It's hard to build a relationship with someone when you never see them again! (All of spacetime is so much larger than one measly little Gotham City.)

Taking all of that into account, Booster should probably count himself lucky that he has such strong recurring villains as the mysterious Black Beetle, the selfish Jonar Jon Carter, and the badly retconned Max Lord.

Of course, I still haven't answered CDN's question of who I would put on the Booster Cave's Wall of Shame. As a comics fan, I certainly have villains I enjoy reading. But as a chronicler, I need a better reason for adding a character to a rogues gallery than "because I like them."

I'll be back in a future post to say who I'd call Booster's biggest foes and why. In the meantime, do you know who you would want to see Booster battle?

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Longtime Boosterrific contributor CDN writes:

Given there's not much Booster stuff going on, outside of HiC and the movie rumours, I was thinking maybe you could toss in some "fluff" pieces for slow news days.

I couldn't agree more. In order to stay relevant in this modern age dominated by micro-blogging and podcasts, this site needs more content to encourage people to take the trouble of visiting us on their old-fashioned tablets and newfangled smartphones. Something to entertain. Something to get people talking. Something to give people who love Booster Gold a few moments of enjoyment at least once every few days.

Traditionally, my focus has been pretty narrow: document what DC and its fans are doing in the name of comics' greatest character, Booster Gold. It was created as a way to track every Booster Gold appearance in comics, every character he has interacted with, and every artist who has ever contributed to those appearances. The blog was originally added as a place to catch the "other stuff" that deserved documenting that didn't quite fit elsewhere. I still use it mainly for that purpose.

In the past, I've always tried to avoid the "fluff" piece that you'll find on many blogs. I don't believe that I am any more of an authority on Booster Gold than any of you who have been reading his comics. While I haven't been afraid to offer my opinion when I felt it appropriate, I have generally tried to avoid creating content whole cloth based on my personal feelings or flights of fancy. I can't imagine that anyone would want to know how I would rank my 10 favorite Booster Gold artists or what I would do if I was an editor at DC. This site should be about Booster Gold, not me.

That philosophy coupled with a distinct lack of Booster Gold news in the "New 52" era — and, admittedly, more than a little complacency and laziness — have resulted in more than a few posts that were less engaging than they perhaps could have been. However, like CDN, I think I can do better. No blog dedicated to Booster Gold should ever be boring. I can use my resources and this blog to present a better spotlight on what has made Booster's adventures unique and desirable. I can write the occasional piece on characters and artists I like, especially as they relate to our hero. And I don't see how it could hurt for me to review some more comics.

Thanks for that feedback, CDN. (He has more to say. We'll get to that next week.) If you have any suggestions for how to make Boosterrific.com even better, don't hesitate to leave your comment below or email me directly with the Contact page.

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